On his own blog, Chris Anderson has a fascinating response to this and this post: "Why I gave up on Second Life"; Chris e-mailed me a couple questions, which I reply to there. Between that and the post's extended reader commentary, it makes more a fascinating conversation-- read it all.

Monday, July 30, 2007

Amid so much controversy over the myriad failures of real world advertising in Second Life last week, two regions sponsored by real companies were busy attracting steady waves of visitors. As featured last week, there's the astoundingly beautiful Kowloon city, from a Japanese design studio which recreated the setting of a cult Playstation game, so fans could rent space to "live" within it, while also integrating real world brands with the companies' official approval as a potential revenue stream.

The difference? Like Kowloon, Greenies leverages Second Life at its best and most
essential, creating a fully-realized place that is open-ended enough for freeform
exploration and improvisational creativity, a locale where Residents
can respond to the vivid and wonderful strangeness with their own imagination. As the
video above suggests, it's not enough to have a 50's-era living room
expanded to mountainous size, nor that it's infested with mischievous
aliens. To make it a true Second Life experience, you need to bring your own sense of manic fun: explore the place with two Transformers, say, then a dancing fly and a
silent crow on a WWII fighter plane, then maybe later on a flying
hotdog, with reggae music streaming around you all the while.

But make no mistake, Greenies is still part of a company project-- just a rare one where the company's marketing demands don't choke out any possibility of genuine delight. This is the insight gleaned by Greenies' lead developer, Pavig Lok, who's traded notes with fellow 3D builders who've created marketing sites for other real world clients.

"The feedback I've been getting from many of the folks that do commercial builds is that in the process of realizing the clients' requirements, they usually end up watering the build down 'till it's of limited interest," she tells me. "So it's not that there isn't a whole population of SL artists champing at the bit to produce cool fun builds, it's that the people who could let it happen don't.

Back in January, Rik Riel predicted a non-profit group would do it, and so it has come to pass: the American Cancer Society's SL Relay for Life has raised well over the Linden Dollar equivalent of $100,000 USD. SL-based academic Aleks Krotoski has powerful thoughts on how this real world organization has succeeded in Second Life where so many others have fallen short:The SL Relay for Life has consistently offered a template for
successful engagement with the new digital consumer. May it continue to
succeed until we have found a cure.

The people at Greenies Home have raised the population
limit on the region, and the crowds have certainly come.
Greenies Home is up 36% on the previous week - though there was some talk of
closing the site temporarily for some refitting. I'm hoping that means yummy new
content!

Playboy (1,368) has got the feel of a long-tail curve
about it at the moment. After a surge of visiting interest, the traffic has
tapered off. The in-world manager, MSGiro Grosso, tells me that neither he nor
Playboy (formerly an NWN advertiser) is concerned about the present low traffic levels and are concentrating
on community building over time. They plan to take the long view with a minimum
one-year plan. The traffic isn't fantastic, but it's hardly embarrassing either.

Update, 7/31: Chris has a reply to this post (and quotes my rejoinders) at his blog here.

Last Friday I contacted Wired Magazine editor-in-chief Chris Anderson about my critique of Frank Rose's article on failed marketing in Second Life, to get his perspective. Chris told me he agreed with the article, and Rose's subsequent defense of it. Fair enough, though I still maintain the piece doesn't begin to offer a full and nuanced consideration of the subject.

Why? Well, consider the time when Chris Anderson himself used Second Life to market a product.

Last October, Chris appeared in SL to sign virtual copies of his excellent book, The Long Tail. I was honored to host the interview session with him, in an event produced by NWN partner Millions of Us. About 30 Residents showed up. Not a lot, but then again, about what you'll often get at an appearance in a real world bookstore.

I was busy preparing for a metaverse think tank event, when the Lindens up and eliminated an entire industry from the metaverse. Namely, casinos and gambling:

But why now? Unlike May's age verification announcement, which occurred after a rash of controversy, this move seems unexpected; indeed, a visit from the FBI in April set no clear legal prohibitions against wagering in SL. Robin Linden cites "a variety of conflicting gambling regulations around the world" as a reason; many Residents have suggested other motives at play. So once again, I put the question up to the wisdom of the crowds-- you have until August 4th, to be a part of it.